US seeks to prolong USAID operations in Russia – paper

The US is trying to find ways to keep funds flowing to Russian NGOs, following Moscow’s decision to stop the operations of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Kommersant newspaper reports. According to the information obtained by the paper, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sent a letter to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, asking him to allow for an extension of the agency’s activities untill May 2013. The Russian government confirmed that it received a letter from Clinton but did not disclose its content. Moscow told the USAID to cease its activity, accusing the agency of attempting to manipulate the election processes in the country.